Practice Building Courses

Coaching Applications

Coaching Specialties

Click for additional classes, details and online registration. Some schedules may change; check listing or contact Edwina Adams, Administration/Registration, at edwina@lifecoachtraining.com or Diane Menendez, Director of Faculty and Curriculum, at diane@lifecoachtraining.com.  

Dear Coaching Colleagues:

Speaking of Coaching...That is the focus of this issue of TLC^™. Many of you know I speak all over the world at conferences and venues of therapists who want to learn of coaching. I am building a coach training business. Most of you are building a coaching business. And in your business you might also do training, consulting, writing, or teaching. Speaking to groups is the quickest way for building a business!

When you are in front of a group you have the advantage of being seen by more people who may be attracted to your style, your message, your humor, your authenticity. Always remember to let them know that you also coach individual clients and give them an offer - a sample coaching session, a free newsletter, an article you have written, or an assessment of their personality.

Since speaking in public is the number one phobia, I realize that many of you are saying, "But I can't speak in public." 

As I told one of our students lately, speaking to a group is having a conversation with more than one person. Have some topic you are passionate about and make your talk interactive (you do not have to do all the work.) Have some way for the audience to participate. Do a coaching demonstration. Showing coaching in real time is better than describing what coaching is.

You will learn some other approaches and ideas in this newsletter, but if you want to build your business more quickly, find ways to get in front of more people. Talk Talk Talk about what you have passion for...and then let them know you are a coach.

Happy Coaching!

Pat
Patrick Williams Ed.D., MCC
Chief Energizing Officer, ILCT
Department Chair, Professional Coaching
International University of Professional Studies
www.iups.edu

Editor's Pen

Our focus for December is open - please email me by August 30 and let me know a hot topic related to coaching that you would recommend!

This issue we cover adding speaking to your services. Yes, there are a number of coaches who already do speaking and some are looking for ways to improve their skills. But many others are wondering if they should or shouldn't. In any case, you'll benefit from these great articles written our contributors! Plus we have a special interview this issue you will enjoy!

September's issue will be on affiliations/partnerships. We are soliciting success stories from coaches who have benefited from business affiliations with health clubs, massage therapists, financial planners, business consultants, etc. And, we are interested in articles about partnerships between coaches that have complimentary niches/skills. Please send your suggestions and/or articles-deadline is August 30.

Hope your summer has been successful, and is leading into a powerful autumn for your coaching practice!

Your editor,

Annette
Annette A. Miller, MBA, Life Coach
annette@lifesync.com
Editor, Tomorrow's Life Coach
Graduate, ILCT
Founder, LifeSync Coaching

New Course: Life Purpose and Career Coaching

Life Purpose and Career Coaching is one of the most marketable areas of coaching today. 80% of people are not satisfied in their work. Most people are seeking more meaning, purpose, and fulfillment in their lives. This course will give you a complete and comprehensive system for providing this coaching service. Learn a 7 step process for career clarity and success. Assist your clients to determine what they love to do; their unique gifts, talents, passion, and purpose. Learn how to design unique and creative career options. Guide your client to discover and find the work they love.

Taught by Fern Gorin, M.F.T., N.C.C. Director, Life Purpose Institute

10 weeks starting Tuesday, September 16, 6:30-8:00 PM EST

This Coach Markets by Speaking!

Someone once asked me what it was I really did. I said, "I'm a Coach". Then they asked, "But you give talks, too, what is your primary business?"

What a great question! It gave me the opportunity to share my philosophy about the benefits of adding speaking opportunities to your practice. It's the same philosophy I'll share with you now.

I absolutely love public speaking. I know that sounds crazy, but I do. I love to stand in front of a room full of people and know that they're all listening...to ME! It's a high like no other I've ever known. Imagine creating a business where that was all I did! How cool! However, when I started to put together my business plan, I realized that every single seminar or public speaking event I had ever attended had one common theme...and I couldn't have a business without it!

Each seminar or event provided timely, well-presented information. There was value in that for me...so much value that I usually walked away with a few less dollars in my pocket. I bought books. I registered for more seminars. I purchased trinkets to remind me of my experiences. My reason for attending the event was to receive information. The reason someone coordinated it was to market all the other "stuff" they offered...books, workbooks, hats, t-shirts, CDs, etc. So what was the common theme? Marketing!!

Aha! So here's my philosophy. I am a Coach. I market my services through speaking engagements. Some are unpaid and some are quite lucrative. Amazing...someone is paying me to market my services! What a concept!

Here's how it works...

I use the acronym, TAPE:

Now that you have a program, spread the word! Here are just a few of the places you might start:

When you're ready to go to the next step, consider joining a speaker's bureau or speaking organization. Just be sure to check references thoroughly before paying any membership or scheduling fees.

I'm a Coach. Everything else is marketing. And, if someone wants to pay me to market my services, who am I to say "No"?

Susan Franzen is founder of LifeU Coaching Services and holds a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, as well as a Training & Development Certificate from Boston University. Susan coaches individuals to align their activities with their vision. Visit her site at www.lifeu.com or contact her directly at 512-443-0005 (susan@lifeu.com)

Interview with Mary Ann Dietschler

Editor: Mary Ann, just to give our readers a sense of what you do as a coach, tell us about the kind of people you coach.

Mary Ann: I coach a variety of people from new coaches to small business owners to young people entering college. Although my clients are from different fields they have one thing in common: like me, they absolutely refuse to settle for average and continually search for ways to live life more abundantly.

Editor: Mary Ann, I heard you speak at the first annual Christian Coaches Conference and you were fabulous-one of the best speakers I've heard! You've got a great dry humor and really keep the audience entertained while presenting valuable content. How did you develop your speaking skills?

Mary Ann: Thanks Annette. It helps to have an audience as receptive as those attending the coach's conference.

My first experience speaking to groups was as a Mary Kay consultant and then sales director. Like everyone else, I was nervous at first and literally clung to the podium. It took months to pry myself free and to relax, and years to give myself permission to be who I really was in front of a group.

What helped me overcome my nervousness was passion about the topic; an unwavering belief in the product and opportunity, and a sincere desire to help my team "get it."

Editor: Could you tell our readers what kind of speaking engagements you have done in the past year or two? And be sure to tell us about being on TV!

Mary Ann: Twice a year, I teach two workshops for a local college, one on the DISC behavior styles, and the other on Coping with Difficult People. One attendee hired me to teach the DISC workshop for his employees, and gave each one a behavioral profile for Christmas. Now I coach him and his girlfriend on the communication.

Last fall I had the privilege to teach a two-day woman's retreat on "Transitioning through Change". A few weeks later, I spoke to another group on "The things we tolerate". 

Recently I appeared on "Living the Life", a talk show produced by the Christian Broadcasting Company. And a week ago, I was interviewed on a local radio show. Next to a teaching a teleclass, I think radio is my favorite venue.

Editor: How would you mentor a coach who was interested in developing services as a speaker?

Mary Ann: The first step would be to work with them to develop a topic answering the "What" questions like, "What do I know? What have I personally experienced? What am I passionate about?" For example, after raising three strong willed kids, I was passionate about tough love, so I spoke to and encouraged other parents on the subject.

Next, I would want them to whittle down their vast supply of information to no more than three points. More than three and people tend to get lost in the maze of words. Then we would answer the "How" question. "How will you get your point across?" This is the fun part when the message comes alive with colorful stories to reinforce our points. 

Editing-the hard part-fine-tunes the message, and then we have to practice, practice, and practice some more. I practice on unsuspecting friends and family observing their natural response. 

The "Who" and "Where" questions need to be answered next: Who would be interested in my topic? Where do they gather?

I realize this involves marketing-the part no one likes. The more precise we are answering these two questions the easier the marketing will be.

Editor: Mary Ann, we'd like to know why you are a speaker! Does it support your coaching services or vise versa?

Mary Ann: My reason for speaking is the same as it was when I was a Mary Kay Director: I love to share what I've experienced especially if it I'm confident it will help others. 

Speaking definitely supports coaching. An audience has the unique opportunity to observe and interview a speaker from a distance without making a commitment. If they feel a connection (and if I stay connected with them via my e-zine and an occasional email, etc.) chances are when they need a coach, they'll think of me.

Editor: Do you have any other comments you like to share with our readers?

Mary Ann: Yes, don't wing it! Your audience deserves the best. Set aside time to prepare, practice, and rehearse. People love stories but not if they have to struggle to connect them to the main point, so tell stories that pound your point home. The minute before you stand up to present, think of a time when you were your absolute best, accepted and loved by all, and then dig down deep to recapture that moment and bring that person to the stage.

Editor: Thank you so much, Mary Ann, for letting us interview you for Tomorrow's Life Coach!

Mary Ann Dietschler graduated from the ILCT Christian track. She is a coach, author, workshop and retreat speaker. Her monthly e-zine, "The Insighter" is free and especially enjoyed by those who make insight a priority. Visit her web site at www.CoachMaryAnn.com or contact her at M@CoachMaryAnn.com. 

I'll Take the Root Canal, Please...

For many coaches, it is easy to understand how fear of public speaking has ranked before fear of death in several studies. There is nothing like a little panic attack to fan the flames of procrastination when it comes to scheduling a speaking circuit. In the past I would have gleefully preferred dental work to speaking in front of 50 Rotarians. But coaches also understand that the size of our coaching practice is in direct proportion to the number of people that know who we are and what we do. Thus begins the cycle of "I should, therefore I will (sweat, worry, over prepare, pretend, stumble through it, feel like a failure, repeat)". 

Everyone's path to the podium is different. The secret is to find your own road less traveled and not take the trampled way that may fit others but not you. Use any or none of the tips below to map your own journey to speaking success without stress.

"The road to wisdom?-Well, it's plain and simple to express:
Err and err and err again
but less and less and less"
by Piet Hein, "The Road to Wisdom" 

Teresa Pool is a coach with a passion for assisting individuals in living richer, more fulfilling lives. Her specialty is guiding executives and entrepreneurs through transformational change. She has been coaching professionally since January 2000. Teresa lives in Plano, Texas with her husband, Don, and guide dog puppy, Cassius; her website is www.TransitionsForLife.com. 

Using NLP to Make Speeches Memorable

Great speeches penetrate minds and hearts. Impossible to forget and foolish to ignore, a great speech draws from real life and reflects truth. Get your point across with the sizzle that your audience remembers for a long time.

Putting sizzle into your talks means getting inside the audience quickly and effectively. Bandler and Grinder's Neurolingistic Programming (NLP) sheds light on how speakers can get their ideas across with a memorable impact.

During the 1970s Bandler and Grinder studied many successful people helpers in various occupations. From these studies they observed that humans internally process information and thoughts through sensory channels, especially visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (touch or feeling). Their discovery allows communicators or all kinds the communication effectiveness of the renowned people they studied.

Audiences and participants at seminars usually prefer or favor one sensory channel over the other two for receiving and internally processing information. So, auditory peoples perceive and process sounds, visuals with pictorial descriptions, and kinesthetics with touch and feeling statements. The effective speaker covers all three sensory channels to communicate with everyone present.

The simplest way to do that is to include as many sensory channels as possible. After you have made a point or stated a principle and are ready to illustrate what you have said, be sure to include as many senses as you can in the illustration. For example, I take people into experiences by helping them hear, see, feel, smell, and even taste the illustration. It's not just we went to the beach to hunt seashells, but when we got to the beach, we replaced our socks and shoes with sandals. On our walk to the water's edge we noticed the gravelly roughness of the path beneath our feet and could feel the wind blowing against our bodies as though something were saying don't get too close.

Well, you get the point. Effective speaking gets to listeners via sensory channels. This mesmerizing communication stays with people much longer and goes much deeper than a dry and lifeless presentation. Free up yourself to include this kind of material in your next speech or seminar. You'll be surprised how attentive and vocal your audience will be at the end of the day!

David E. Dillon, Ed.D. is a Consultant in Human Behavior who uses NLP to increase his effectiveness in his coaching and speaking practices. Dr. Dillon is a licensed psychologist, counselor educator, coach, and business consultant. For more information, visit www.NarrativeCoach.org.

Special Workshop for a Successful Coaching Practice

Dear Coach:

If you're worried about the future of your practice...about increasing competition....and the factors that make for such a turbulent coaching economy, I have some ideas you should seriously consider. 

Patrick Williams here. Let's face it, the coaching marketplace is more competitive than ever. How can you stand out from the competition? We have the answers for you. 

My friends at Consulting Resource Group have created a unique program to help coaches like you attract new customers and increase your revenue streams.

You want your coaching business to be a success. At the Institute for Life Coaching and Consulting Resource Group we want to make that happen.

Therefore, you need to hop over to this website to discover more about this exciting opportunity for your coaching business that is coming to Denver, September 4-6, 2003.

Click to go to the CGR site right now!

To harmony and love in abundance...

Pat
Patrick Williams Ed.D., MCC
Chief Energizing Officer, ILCT

P.S. Hurry! There are only a limited amount of seats for the seminar available. If you delay, you're likely to miss out.

7 Different Ways to Develop Your Speech Outline

Hillary Rodham Clinton recently released her newest book, Living History. She was asked in a news interview, "What is the central message of your book?"

She replied, "The central message is to live your own life."

Now, regardless of how one regards Hillary Clinton or her book, this anecdote conveys a key lesson about any book ...or public speech. There must be a central message. This central message is technically called the thesis. The thesis is the starting point of speech writing! If you are invited to give a talk, for a minimum level of preparation, write out your thesis statement (in 25 words or less). Don't leave home without it!

However, you will also want to "flesh out" your thesis with an outline. Below are listed seven simple techniques for creating an outline that will convey the main message. Pick the one that best fits your style and use it to develop your talk.

1. List - The main points of this article are simply a list. You can do the same in a speech.

2. Diamond - Look at your topic as though it were a diamond with many facets. For example, here are 3 facets of speech making: (1) researching the subject (2) writing the speech (3) delivering the talk. 

3. Chronological - Sometimes, the main points of your talk can be woven into a story as it is told in simple chronological order.

4. Geographical - Again, depending on the subject matter, you may be able to relate your key ideas to a story and the locations of that story. 

5. Thesis - Antithesis - Synthesis - Sound complicated? It's really not. 

Thesis:  People like to listen to well-organized speeches. 

Antithesis: People do not like to listen to rambling, pointless droning.

Synthesis: Organize your speech according to one of the 7 methods in this article, and people will enjoy hearing what you have to say!

6. Motivational Sequence - Very useful when selling an idea or service!

7. Hourglass - Think of the X shape of an hourglass: big at the top, narrow in the middle, then big at the bottom. Begin your talk on a broad theme, such as the field of public speaking. Then, for your main points, narrow to a very focused issue: how to prepare outlines. In conclusion, return to the larger theme: the field of public speaking.

What do you do after you have the thesis and an outline? There are really only 3 or 4 ways to develop a point: explain it in more detail, argue that it is true, and apply it to the listener's lives. Finally, illustrate (with stories, examples, metaphors) and you will have prepared an interesting talk.

Bud Clarkson (ILCT Graduate) is an ordained minister, life coach and educator. He has delivered thousands of sermons, speeches, lectures and seminars in a dozen countries and scores of settings. Want to talk about preparing, delivering or marketing yourself as a public speaker? Contact Bud at bud@coachingforleadership or at (423) 728-1022.

Dreams: Our Own Internal Consultants

What if you had a source of information that offered guidance and a commentary on whether you are on the right track - professionally or personally? Would you be interested? 

I challenge you to deny skepticism for a brief moment and consider the possibility that within your dreams is an untapped, hidden source of self-knowledge." Dreams provide insight into areas of our lives that need attention and show ways in which healing or adaptation needs to take place. Almost like the reins of a horse that correct us when we go off track.

A few years ago, I dreamed of being in a desert surrounded by a brick wall and chain link fence guarded by an arrogant and surly middle-aged man. On the other side was beautiful lush country. Later I realized, this dream was a metaphor of how I was trapping myself from the abundant life I aspired to. 

Dreams have played a role in every major religion and have led to scientific discoveries and inventions: 

The Talmud states, "A dream that has not been interpreted is like a letter unopened."

Kekule was inspired to understand the molecular structure of Benzene by dreaming of a snake biting its tail. He admonished his colleagues, "Learn to dream!" 

Einstein recounted that he first came up with the theory of relativity as an adolescent. He dreamed of being in a sled going down a hill faster and faster until it approached the speed of light. He even went as far to say, "That in many ways his scientific career could be seen as an extended meditation on that dream." 

In studying over 65,000 dreams, Maria Von Franz, concluded that we dream of exactly what we need in each particular life situation. She also believed that dreams have an advantage over other techniques of self-knowledge in that they give us a dynamic, continuous self-diagnosis and can clarify momentary erroneous attitudes or reactions to situations. 

Robert Johnson advocates that we never dream of anything that is not useful or needed. Jung believed, "In sleep we awaken to who we are. We need to be connected to our dream life because dreams show us the maps to our psyches." He maintained that by rejecting our repressed unconscious self, we become destructive by projecting it onto others. The term for this is our "shadow".

It is not necessary to be an expert on dreams to make good use of them. If we pay attention, dreams will assist us in recognizing these unattractive aspects of ourselves. They can also help us uncover our gifts, talents and abilities. If we are open to all of our experiences, awake and asleep, creative impulses will be stimulated and we can open otherwise closed attitudes, beliefs and opinions. The impact on our lives and decisions can be profound. 

Peter Metzner is Principal of Dynamic Change, Inc. He helps individuals and organizations operate from deeper sources of meaning and awareness. He speaks on Dream work to organizations such as The Center For Creative Leadership and presented on Dreams as a keynote speaker at their Annual Conference in Leading Creatively. Please send comments to pmetzner@aol.com.